University of Georgia School of Law, Athens, Georgia

Overview

The University of Georgia School of Law was founded in 1859. Its supportive and cooperative environment provides law students ample opportunities to get involved on campus, polish their legal skills and build personal and professional relationships.


Its extensive and challenging curriculum prepares students for the practice of law. Students in their first year take required courses, and during their second and third years they select from offered broad courses. The law school offers local, regional, and international opportunities. For hands-on experience and community service, the law school offers clinical programs, summer study abroad programs and internships. Its moot court and mock trial programs give students a chance to develop their legal skills in court proceedings that are often judged by the state and nation’s leading attorneys, judges, and justices.

The law library, the oldest and largest public law library in the state, maintains a collection numbering in excess of 600,000 volumes and volume equivalents. It serves the public welfare through participation in cooperative efforts to collect, access, and preserve information at the regional, national, and international levels. The law library is one of the US law school depositories for European Union documents.

Student-Faculty Ratio 12.3:1

Admission Criteria

	LSAT	GPA
25th-75th Percentile	162-166	3.30-3.76
Median*	165	3.59

The above LSAT and GPA data pertain to the fall 2011 entering class.

Medians have been calculated by averaging the 25th- and 75th-percentile values released by the law schools and have been rounded up to the nearest whole number for LSAT scores and to the nearest one-hundredth for GPAs.

Admission Statistics

Approximate number of applications	3,248
Number accepted	814
Percentage accepted	25.1%

The above admission details are based on fall 2011 data.

Class Ranking and Grades

The majority of University of Georgia School of Law students are not ranked in individual order. Only those members of a class whose cumulative GPAs are in the top 25% are ranked in individual order.

The University of Georgia School of Law uses the following grading scale:

A+	4.3
A	4.0
A-	3.7
B+	3.3
B	3.0
B-	2.7
C+	2.3
C	2.0
C-	1.7
D+	1.3
D	1.0
F	0.0

The law school may also assign the following grades:

• I (Incomplete)
• U (Unsatisfactory)
• W (Withdraw)
• WP (Withdraw Passing)
• WF (Withdraw Failing)
• NR (Not Reported)
• IP (In Progress)
• YL (Year-Long Course)

An Incomplete (I) is a temporary grade assigned when a student doing satisfactory work is unable, because of unusual circumstances, to complete course requirements. Any grade of I that is not converted to a letter grade by the end of the subsequent resident semester (summer school is not a resident semester) becomes an F.

The grade of YL indicates that a final grade will be reported at the end of the academic year.

Grade normalization (Curve)

The average grade in each first-year course should fall within the range of 2.9-3.1 based on the University of Georgia School of Law’s grading system. Variations from this rule are allowed with permission from the dean. Though not mandatory, the school’s suggested grade distribution guidelines are as follows:

Grade	Number of Students Receiving
A+, A, A-	33% maximum
C+ or lower	33% maximum
A+	Maximum of two students

The average grade in all upper-level courses should fall within the range of 2.9-3.2. Variations are permissible only in extraordinary circumstances, which must be outlined in a letter from the instructor to the dean. The grades of non-JD students are disregarded for the purposes of this policy. Additionally, all courses and seminars with 20 or fewer students are not subject to this policy.

No student may be awarded a JD degree who does not, at the time of the awarding of the degree, have at least a 2.0 cumulative grade point average for University of Georgia School of Law work according to the grading system utilized within the law school. The minimum standard of academic performance while in the law school is 1.90.

Honors

Honor	Percentage of Class Receiving
Order of the Coif	Top 10%
summa cum laude	Top 2%
magna cum laude	Next 8.5%
cum laude	Next 37.5%

Awards

Name of Award	Description
MacDougald Award	Awarded to the first honor graduate
Meinhard Award	Awarded for the highest academic average
Dean Rusk Award	Awarded for the best paper in the area of international law
Class of 1993 Torts Award	Awarded for excellence in the study of torts law
Chaffin Award	Awarded for excellence in the study of Trusts & Estates
Georgia Municipal Association Award	Awarded for excellence in the study of municipal corporation law
Donald P. Gilmore Jr. Labor Law	Awarded for excellence in the study of labor law
William King Meadow Award	Awarded for all-around excellence
Ellen Jordan Environmental Award	Awarded for outstanding performance in environmental courses
Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Award	Awarded for outstanding performance in property law
American Bankruptcy Institute Metal	Awarded for excellence in the study of bankruptcy
Richardson Award	Awarded for excellence in the study of trial advocacy
O’Byrne Award	Awarded for excellence in the study of taxation
Environmental Law Association Award	Awarded for environmental advocacy
Environmental Law Association Award	Awarded for outstanding service
State Bar of Georgia Tax	Awarded for excellence in the study of taxation
Attorneys’ Title Insurance Award	Awarded for excellence in study of property
State Bar of GA Real Property Award	Awarded for excellence in study of real property
ABA-BNA Labor	Awarded for excellence in study of  labor law
ABA-BNA Intellectual Property	Awarded for excellence in study of Intellectual Property
ABA-BNA Health Law	Awarded for excellence in study of health law
Carlson Evidence Award	Awarded for excellence in study of Evidence & Advocacy

Journals

The Georgia Law Review, a quarterly publication, is the oldest of the legal journals published at the University of Georgia School of Law. Each year, it offers membership to a limited number of highly motivated members of the second-year law class who have demonstrated outstanding academic abilities and legal writing skills. Eligibility for law review membership is determined by a combination of first-year grades and performance on a “write-on” exercise designed to test applicants’ legal reasoning, writing, and citation skills.15, 16

The student-edited Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law is published three times per year and has covered legal issues and developments on the global front for more than four decades. The journal continues to maintain itself as a forum for academic discussion on current and important international subjects.17

The Journal of Intellectual Property Law is a student-edited journal that covers articles on current legal issues written by leading scholars, judges, practicing attorneys, and students. It is published twice per year. The journal focuses on issues related to patent law, trademarks, trade secrets, copyright law, Internet law, and entertainment and sports law.18

Moot Court

The moot court program at the University of Georgia School of Law is supported by a committed faculty and moot court alumni who voluntarily bench practice rounds of oral arguments.

First year students have the opportunity to present an appellate argument during the spring semester of their legal research and writing class. After presenting this argument, students may elect to participate in the Richard B. Russell Moot Court Competition and try out for the first eight spots on the Georgia Law Moot Court team.

Membership on the Moot Court teams is reserved for second and third year law students.

Students participate in the following moot court competitions:

• National Moot Court Tournament
• Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition
• Georgia Intrastate Moot Court Competition
• National First Amendment Moot Court Competition
• Dean Jerome Prince Memorial Evidence Moot Court Competition
• American Bar Associational Regional Competition
• Emory National Civil Rights and Liberties Moot Court Competition
• Hulsey-Kimbrell Competition

Students can also participate in moot court exchange programs held in alternating years with Gray’s Inn of London, England, and King’s Inn of Dublin, Ireland. These exchange programs enhance students’ experience in the courtroom as well as their knowledge of other cultures and legal systems.

Clinical Programs

Students can participate in numerous clinics to get practical experience. They can hone their legal skills - interviewing, case appraisal and planning, negotiation, dispute resolution, and persuasive oral and written advocacy - through hands-on experience and community service.

Its criminal and civil clinical programs are open to second- and third-year students.

The school’s criminal clinical programs include the following:

• Capital Assistance Project
• Criminal Defense Clinic
• Prosecutorial Clinic

Its civil clinical programs include the following:

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Appellate Litigation
• Corporate Counsel
• Environmental Law
• Family and Education Law
• Nonprofits & Government

Placement Facts

Starting Salaries (2010 Graduates employed Full-Time)

Private sector (25th-75th percentile)	$70,000-$140,000
Median in the private sector	S108,000
Median in public service	$55,000

Employment Details

Graduates known to be employed at graduation	83.6%
Graduates known to be employed nine months after graduation	93.2%

Areas of Legal Practice

Graduates employed In	Percentage
Law Firms	52.9%
Business and Industry	7.8%
Government	18.1%
Public Interest Organizations	2.0%
Judicial Clerkships	15.7%
Academia	0.5%
Unknown	2.9%

Externships/Internships

Externships

The University of Georgia School of Law offers following externships:

The Civil externship Program allows students to work for disadvantaged community members through the Public Interest Practicum. Students in this program work with homeless and incarcerated individuals and local service institutions to coordinate resources and information on housing, child custody, debt, benefits and health care. Students work with attorneys and judges.

The Summer externship Program encourages students to work in governmental, judicial, and private nonprofit placements through a focused program of reading, reflection, and professional enhancement.

The Corporate Counsel externship explores the practice of law from the perspective of an in-house counsel. Students spend their time in a corporate legal department where they have work assignments and experience firsthand the inner workings of a legal department.

The DC externship course consists of a ten-credit course, consisting of two parts: two credits arising from a weekly two hour seminar; and eight credits arising out of the student’s work at their assigned placement. All students work 35 hours per week at the placement.

Under the Prosecutorial Clinic in addition to attending a weekly seminar on more advanced prosecutorial topics, students perform an externship in a public prosecutor’s office. Student externs not only provide research and document drafting assistance but are also authorized under the Third Year Practice Act to make court appearances on behalf of the state at preliminary hearings, grand jury, motion hearings, and trials.

Internships

The Global Internship since 2001 provides students with four to 12 weeks of study and/or work experience in a legal learning environment of different countries. Law students get exposure to international and transnational law through summer internships in foreign governmental agencies, academic centers, law firms, corporations, and NGOs.

The initiative of the Dean Rusk Center allows first- and second-year students at the University of Georgia to venture beyond America’s borders to gain experience in legal organizations.

Student organizations

• American Constitution Society
• Asian Law Student Association
• Business Law Society
• Christian Legal Society
• Black Law Student Association
• Dean’s Ambassadors
• Education Law Student Association
• Environmental Law Association
• Equal Justice Foundation Board
• Federalist Society
• Georgia Assn. of Law and Politics
• Society of Intl. & Comparative Law
• Georgia Trial Lawyers Student Chapter
• German American Law Society
• Health Law Society
• Hispanic Law Students Association
• Intellectual Property Law Society
• Jewish Law Student Association
• J. Reuben Clark Law Society
• Labor & Employment Law Association
• Law Democrats
• Law Republicans
• Law Students for Reproductive Justice
• Military Justice Society
• Negotiations Competition Team
• OUTLaws
• Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity
• Public Interest Law Council
• Rural South Law Society
• Sports & Entertainment Law Society
• Street Law
• Student Animal Legal Defense Fund
• Student Bar Association
• Women Law Students Association
• Working in the Public Interest

References

• http://www.law.uga.edu/
• http://premium.usnews.com/
• http://www.nalplawschoolsonline.org/